The home-buyer tax credit was expanded and extended today, and mortgage rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped below 5% on average for the week. That's all great news for prospective home buyers, but not much help to people who are currently struggling to pay their mortgage.

But wait, there's something for them, too: Fannie Mae today announced a program designed to let homeowners who can't make their payments and who aren't eligible for a loan modification basically give their home's title back to the lender, and then keep living there as a renter.

What a choice: Lose your home to foreclosure, move out and start fresh somewhere else, or give your home back to the lender and rent the home you once owned. Certainly staying makes life easier and it's probably better for your credit rating. And if you love your home, who wouldn't want to stay?

But to rent what you once owned? That's got to hurt.

-- Andrea Coombes, assistant personal-finance editor

RETIREMENT

Use retirement planning tools at your own risk

When it comes to retirement planning, it's important to measure risk. But it's just as important not to mismeasure it. Unfortunately, that's what most Americans and financial-services firms do today. They tend to focus on the probability of risk and less, if at all, on the magnitude of the risk. The net result is that many retirees and retirement savers now have investment portfolios that are far too aggressive. See Robert Powell.

HEALTH CARE

When English becomes a barrier to care

Gayle Tang remembers the time she thought she was speaking English but only realized she had lapsed into Cantonese when one of her doctors spoke it back to her. That was 14 years ago, but she recalls the uneasy feeling of not knowing what was wrong with her and undergoing tests for heart palpitations. The doctor's words in the language she needed to hear and speak at that sensitive time moved her, she said. See Vital Signs.

The costly toll of language problems in health care

It can be hard enough to talk your way through a medical crisis with doctors and other health-care workers in your native tongue. Chances are you're not feeling well, you're scared for your health and you've entered a sterile and expensive world you don't want to be in, all of which can make it challenging to hold up your end of a high-stakes conversation. See Health Matters.

Health bill gets backing from AARP, doctors

Powerful trade groups representing senior citizens and doctors on Thursday endorsed a sweeping House health-care bill, a move hailed by President Barack Obama as House lawmakers prepare for a vote on the measure Saturday. See full story.

Stimulus grants spur new research

As the first grants from $10 billion in federal stimulus to health research flow in, researchers believe they may see a renaissance in their profession that inspires a new generation of scientists and speeds up the race for many cures for years to come. See full story.

REAL ESTATE

From homeowner to tenant

Qualifying homeowners facing foreclosure will be able to stay in their homes -- as renters -- under a new program announced by Fannie Mae on Thursday. See full story.

Fixed-rate mortgage drops below 5%

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.98% for the week ending Nov. 5, down from 5.03% last week, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates, released on Thursday. See Mortgages.

Commercial real estate yet to hit bottom

Commercial real estate vacancies will continue to rise and rents will continue to decrease across all property sectors before markets hit bottom, probably sometime in the middle of 2010, according to a report released Thursday by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute. See full story.

ECONOMY & POLITICS

Unemployment rate expected to hit 9.9%

Growth may have returned to the U.S. economy in the third quarter, but workers are still being left out of the party. According to forecasts, nonfarm payrolls probably fell for the 22nd straight month in October, economists said ahead of Friday's report from the Labor Department. The report will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. See full story.

Congress passes extension of jobless benefits, home tax credit

The House of Representatives on Thursday approved an extension of jobless benefits and a tax credit for home buyers, sending the measure to President Barack Obama for signature. The bill, approved unanimously by the Senate late Wednesday, extends unemployment benefits for up to 20 weeks. It also keeps a first-time home buyer tax credit alive until next spring, and expands it to include some people who already own a house. See full story.

'Cap and trade' bill passes Senate panel

A bill that would set tough emissions limits on U.S. industries cleared a Senate panel on Thursday morning, following two days of a bill-writing session boycotted by Republicans. See full story.

Productivity soars at 9.5% pace in third quarter

U.S. companies increased their output in the third quarter even as they slashed working hours, driving productivity up at a 9.5% annual rate in the quarter, the Labor Department estimated Thursday. See full story.

Jobless claims drop

The number of people filing initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 512,000 in the week ending Oct. 31, the Labor Department reported Thursday. See full story.

ON WALL STREET

Bonuses set to rise at big investment banks: survey

Wall Street employees specializing in stock and fixed-income markets will see their 2009 bonuses jump from last year along with rebounding markets, according to a report released Thursday projecting incentive compensation in the financial-services industry. See full story.

Crackdown on insider trading widens

A crackdown on alleged insider trading widened Thursday as five players in the $1.5 trillion hedge-fund industry pleaded guilty to criminal charges and eight others were arrested. Federal prosecutors filed new criminal charges against several Wall Street lawyers and traders for allegedly being part of an insider-trading network run by Zvi Goffer, a former proprietary trader at Schottenfeld Group LLC, a hedge-fund firm based in New York. See full story.

INVESTING

Investors need to do homework when picking ETFs

Exchange-traded funds continue to spread and they have many investor-friendly features, but the growing array of products and complex strategies means investors and financial advisers need to do extra homework when choosing ETFs. See ETF Investing.

Fund managers favor health-care investments

Among the sectors positioned for a strong weekly rise, health care places near the bottom in looking at gains year-to-date. But many market watchers are bullish on health care, cited it as an area for cheer in looking to next year. See full story.

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